


Diving Deeper

by faiinai



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Crush at First Sight, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotionally Repressed, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Self-Acceptance, Self-Hatred, Sexual Repression, Sexuality, Sexuality Crisis, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-08-29 02:42:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16735542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faiinai/pseuds/faiinai
Summary: * WARNING: THERE WILL BE NON-CON TOUCHING (no rape) IN THIS STORY IN LATER CHAPTERS, FROM SHADOW KANJI TO REAL KANJI.* I DO NOT CONDONE RAPE/NON-CON IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM*  I WILL PUT WARNINGS BEFORE EACH CHAPTER IF IT IS TO BE USED.Ever since Kanji met that grey-haired guy, he's been having strange dreams, and even stranger feelings inside him. What's happening with him...?





	1. Another Night

Darkness. That was the first thing Kanji saw when he opened his eyes. Not the familiar darkness he'd wake up to, the kind where he had a form of light from the moonlight outside his window, but the kind where it was overwhelming. Pure black surrounded him, he couldn't even see his hands in front of his face when he reached out. He looked to his right, then his left, in hopes of seeing something that could tell him where he was. Nothing. He threw his hands to his sides, only to realize something. Kanji took his hands, and placed them around his body, just to confirm his suspicions. From his chest, to his thighs, the pajamas he had been wearing in his bed were now gone. He was completely naked. "H-Hey, where the hell am I?! Hello?!" Kanji shouted into the darkness. A pause. Then, his call was answered by the switch of a spotlight.

The blinding beam of light shone upon him, forcing Kanji to shield his eyes. His eyes quickly adjusted to the light, and he looked ahead. Another spotlight switch flicked on, and a similar beam appeared in front of him. Kanji waited, to see what would happen. Suddenly, the second beam of light raced away from him. The shape of stairs appeared under the circle of light, making it seem like a snake slithering up steps. The steps seemed to continue endlessly, as the light traveled upwards into the black sky. Without warning or any slow down, the beam stopped as a humanoid figure came into view... It was completely unclothed, minus a fundoshi wrapped around its waist which covered its genitals. Its back was turned to Kanji. Spiked of blonde, slicked back hair pointed at him, in between fingers behind its head. 

The figure pivoted on a single heel, turning 180 degrees to face Kanji at the bottom of the stairs. Kanji couldn't see the figure's face when it was so far up the stairs. He didn't know what danger this thing was capable of, so he didn't dare get closer. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't. He was frozen in his tracks. Music started playing, like the room had speakers all around the perimiter. It was atrocious. The kind of music you'd hear in a cheesy porn parody. Kanji wanted to cover his ears and block out the insufferably bad porno music, but he couldn't move his arms either. 

The figure started going down the steps, seemingly tiptoeing. As soon as its foot touched the step, said step would light up in a vibrant color. The first was red, the second was orange, the third was yellow, and it continued. Once it reached the end of the rainbow sequence, the colors looped, and the cycle would start again. As the figure reached the third cycle of steps, its face became more clear in Kanji's vision. The face was... his. Not only that, the body was his as well. The face was stuck in a permanent fixation of orgasmic blushing. The eyes were piercingly golden. Their stare seemed to stab Kanji deeper as the thing came closer to him. After another cycle ended, the figure and Kanji were face to face. Kanji was horrified of what this thing was going to do, 

The golden-eyed clone cupped Kanji's cheek in its hand. It stared into his eyes for a good 7 seconds. The shining, demonic eyes pierced his soul, and forced him to shake uncontrollably. It formed a devilish smirk, stifling its giggles with its other hand...   
"Ohhh, you poor dear. You're all misplaced... Let me help." The thing said. It's voice was exactly like Kanji's, except it had a very effeminate tone, and a slight lisp. It licked its lips as it took its cupped hand from his cheeks, and put its arms around the frozen Kanji.  
"Come. Dive deeper with me." It said. The clone fell into Kanji, making full frontal contact. The thing's clothed erection could be felt, sticking onto Kanji's stomach. Kanji could finally move again, but it was too late. He'd already begun to fall with the clone. He stretched out his arms to push his demon clone away, but he couldn't. All of his attempts were futile, and resulted in him only wrapping his arms around it. The two fell down. Kanji prepped himself for the pain that came with landing on the hard floor he'd been walking on. He closed his eyes and... he felt nothing.

Where the ground should've been, there was nothingness. It was as if him and the clone fell straight through the ground. Darkness continued to envelop the duo as they fell into a seemingly never ending void. The clone looked into Kanji's eyes once more, putting on a toothy grin.   
"We're finally going deeper...!" The clone stated with glee.  
"That boy.. Will he finally help you accept me?" it asked. Kanji's eyes widened. What was this thing talking about?  
Out of nowhere, the endless darkness was interrupted by a sheet of blinding white overcoming Kanji.

"GAH!" Kanji yelled out. The darkness disappeared, as he was lifted out of his dream and back into his bed. The pajamas that were previously missing were back on again. The black landscape was replaced by the familiar, sunlit bedroom. Kanji looked around, to get a feel for his surroundings. A cold sweat covered him, as Kanji tried to catch his breath.  
"Goddammit... That dream again..." Kanji said to himself. Ever since Kanji had seen that grey-haired guy who'd been watching him with his friends, he'd been having this dream. He had no clue as to what that "other him" was talking about. What were they going deeper into? Why could that guy help him at all? Kanji didn't know what any of this meant. All he knew was that the guy he saw... He made Kanji feel weird. Kanji didn't know how to describe it, the feeling was just "weird". Whenever he thought about him, the same feeling came over him. What was this guy doing to him...? Making him feel this way, giving him these dreams... Who was he? Suddenly, a voice came from the room adjacent to his.   
"Kanji! Are you alright, dear?" Kanji's mother shouted, wanted to make sure her son was OK.   
"Yeah, ma, I'm fine..." He replied.   
"I'm fine..." Kanji confirmed with himself. He threw the blankets off of himself, and started the familiar cycle of taking his pajamas off, and getting his clothes on for school. 


	2. Meeting

Kanji wouldn't show up to school that day. He just put on his uniform, or at least the blazer, to convince his mother that he was going so she wouldn't worry about him. With his rebellious behavior, she went dealt enough stress as it was. Kanji didn't want anything else, like the fact he hadn't shown up to school for weeks at times, weighing her down. He loved her too much for that. 

Kanji rode his bicycle all the way to the hill overlooking his hometown of Inaba. He'd gotten so used to doing this on his “days off”, it had become a form of routine for him. He’d spend long hours just sitting at the picnic table and just... thinking. Whatever was on his mind, he'd spend the day just looking at the sky and kicking it back and forth in his head. Occasionally, he’d bring some cloth and needles to pass the time and improve his knitting simultaneously. However today, he had something more to think about. Kanji couldn’t distract himself with knitting, no matter how much he wanted to. He needed to figure out what the hell was going on with these dreams and why did they start as soon as he saw that guy?

Kanji parked his bike on the side of the fence, separating the hill from the cliff that showed off the rustic, countryside town he’d known since he was a toddler. He took a moment, placing his hands on the brittle, wooden rails. He gazed upon the town, as the spring winds blew towards him. The wind made his platinum blonde, spiked back hair flow with the breeze. For as many sucky people there were in Inaba, the redeeming factor was that he got to live in a place so gorgeous. In his eyes, the countryside was an ideal place to live. He loved the rural vibe Inaba gave off. So simple, so plain, so boring… So pure.

His sightseeing ended soon after. Kanji took his hands off of the rail, taking a deep breath before walking over to the picnic table. Twigs cracked under Kanji’s feet with each step. This, besides the birds singing and the wind blowing, were the only sounds accompanying Kanji. The picnic wasn’t much, all it was a medium-sized table surrounded by four planks of wood which acted as seats. It was covered by a seemingly rotting, plant-covered gazebo. It was ideal for families and hanging out with friends. Kanji sat down on the seat facing north and, subsequently, the overview of the town. The wood seats creaked under Kanji’s weight.

Kanji stuffed his right hand into his jacket pocket, quickly finding what he was looking for based on texture alone. A crumpled ball of paper, and a thin, black pen. He gripped the paper in his fist, with the pen clenched in between his index and middle fingers. After dropping the pen on the table, he took his other hand and uncrumpled the paper to flatten it the best he could. Wrinkles remained in the paper, and it folded at the ends a bit when Kanji’s hand wasn’t functioning as a paperweight, but it could still be used and that’s all that mattered. He slammed the paper down with his left hand, and took the pen in his right hand. He’d use this paper to write down any possible ideas about what could’ve caused the dream and what the dream meant.

Kanji clicked the button of the pen with his thumb, making the nib come out. The pen was lowered to the paper, and Kanji began to write. In the top margin of the paper, Kanji scribbled out the word “DREAM” and underlined it. Halfway below the top margin, he did the same but with “REASON”. In the “DREAM” section, he listed aspects of the dreams that stuck out to him: “other me?”, “going deeper?” and “that grey-haired guy???”. Those were the parts of the dream that confused him the most. Highlighting his confusion, he circled the last option. Kanji’s hand moved to the “REASON” part to, at least, attempt to decipher what these things meant. He relisted what he already had in the first section, but left space on the right side to write down his thoughts. His attention instantly diverted to the circled option: the grey-haired guy… Who was he? Based on the clothes he was wearing, he went to Yasogami High, like Kanji. But, Kanji had never seen him around on the days he decided to go to school... Maybe he was a transfer student? Kanji quickly jotted the ideas as to who he could be as they popped into his head. He recalled the face of his mystery man, to get a good visual. Grey eyes, silver hair… defined jawline, a well-sculpted nose, piercingly gorgeous eyes… Kanji’s left hand, unknowingly, gripped the table tight.   
Wait, what? Why was Kanji thinking this? That wasn’t right… He thought to himself.  There wasn’t anyway he could “like” this guy. He barely knew him, and he was stalking Kanji. It would’ve been wrong to like him in general anyways… Kanji’s dad taught him that from an early age. He had to be a man. It wasn’t manly to like guys… So he couldn’t possibly do that. Kanji was about to write down what he could gather about the man, but, he felt extremely dizzy… He couldn’t tell why, but there seemed to be something pressing against his nose, like a wet cloth… Chloroform? 

Without warning, his vision went utterly black. No telegraph hinting of the overtaking, just an overwhelming darkness surrounding him in an instant. Kanji began aimlessly floating in a jet-black ocean of nothingness. His body was weightless and paralyzed. He couldn’t move a single, solitary muscle. Kanji couldn’t even open his eyes or his mouth to scream out for help. He might as well have been a lifeless ragdoll, if not for the fact he was completely conscious and aware.

Abruptly, the lack of color surrounding him faded away. The solid, suffocating darkness turned into millions of tiny black orbs. The orbs floated up quickly to what seemed like the ceiling, and gave way to another setting. Kanji dropped out of the dark sea, onto a coarse, rough surface. His head made a loud thud as it made contact against the floor.   
“Shiiit, that hurt!” he groaned. Kanji’s forehead throbbed in pain. His right hand drifted up towards the point that hit the ground. He rubbed the area gently, trying to calm the pain down. He brought his hand away from the contact point to take a look at his hand. No blood, but the impact would probably leave a bruise. Taking his mind off of that right now, he brought his attention to his surroundings. Where the hell was he? 

Kanji’s eyes widened to his environment as he stood up. The place was like... a bathhouse. Seemingly, the entire place was constructed with wood, besides the floor. Pillars stood, towering over Kanji and stretching eternally into an unseeable ceiling. Kanji questioned how long would it take to reach the top, if somebody climbed it. No windows were visible, which made telling the time of day or where this bathhouse was located impossible. The majority of the ground was covered in a Versailles-styled red and gold carpet. Uncovered sections of the ground were made of stone and brick. Kanji had the unfortunate luck of landing on one of the uncovered sections. He angrily grumbled at this realization. Though, simultaneously, he appreciated the design of the carpet. It really was a gorgeous piece. Maybe he could pick up something similar to it in Okina City... but that wasn’t important right now. Kanji snapped himself out of his carpet fascination and kept looking around. Steam surrounded him, making things exponentially harder to get a good look at. Kanji squinted through the suffocatingly hot mist, until he spotted something. It was an stage completely built of wood. For the most part, it was empty, but something stood at the center, obscured through the steam. A tanned, blurry figure, seemingly in a flamboyant pose. He wanted to resist the urge to go towards that thing, but Kanji’s curiosity got the better of him. He stepped towards the stage, with caution. His leather shoes slapped against the stones with every step, making quiet  _ clacks  _ as he got closer. 

As Kanji closed in, the figure became progressively clearer. It became less fuzzy, sharper, and more defined. Its motions became visible as well, with it seemingly bouncing around like a giddy schoolgirl. Kanji’s brow furrowed in confusion. Before he could get too close to the figure, it swung around with tremendous speed to face Kanji. He froze in his tracks. He recognized this figure. There wasn’t anyway this thing could be anything else. It was… him. A complete mirror of Kanji. The only differences were its lack of clothes, only donning a fundoshi, and its shining, golden eyes. Kanji’s jaw dropped open moderately as he stepped back. This clone was the exact same one from his dreams.

“No… Not you!” Kanji shouted, with a shaking voice. His clone put its hand over its mouth to stifle a giggle.   
“Ohhh~, so we meet again…” The clone commented, its effeminate voice invading Kanji’s mind. He hated this voice being put on him. It was so stereotypical and so irritating, Kanji wanted to rip out this thing’s throat so he wouldn’t have to hear it. Though, Kanji couldn’t answer with much of anything, let alone a throat grab. He was in a state of shock, waiting for the other him to do something. Attack him, walk towards him, anything… But the clone did nothing. It just stood there and stared at Kanji. For a while, it was just a staring contest of complete silence. The only sound coming in was the hiss of steam being pumped into the room. Their staring contest with each other was abruptly broken by the sound of a door being kicked open.   
  
“There he is!” A spunky girl’s voice shouted.  
“Kanji!” A young boy exclaimed. Kanji turned to face the shouting voices. With them coming into view, he realized that he recognized these faces too. The only person he didn’t recognize was the odd person in a brightly colored bear costume, but the others he recalled quite clearly. The red girl, the short-haired green girl, that awkward guy and… him. The silver-haired stalker that seemingly started this whole conundrum. Kanji’s eyes widened as their gazes met each other. His cheeks turned a slight, pinkish color. In combination, his chest arose with that feeling again. The _weird_ feeling he couldn’t name. Kanji grabbed his chest with his right hand, and squeezed his shirt. He wanted to talk to the boy. He wanted to know who he was, how he was making him feel like this, or anything really. Answers were the only thing Kanji wanted, and desperately. However, something loomed over his head, and it suddenly dawned on him. His clone. Kanji’s eyes darted to the naked duplicate, prancing around on the stage. These guys were gonna get the wrong idea about him, he thought. He didn’t want anybody seeing him like his clone. He had to explain.

“D-don’t look at it! This isn’t me!” Kanji shouted, with desperation fueling him. ...Kanji didn’t realize how much of a mistake saying that was, until the clone’s devilish smile contorted into one of pure sadism. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry for the wait! School's been rather hectic, and so has my writing schedule. I forgot to mention that these release dates will be rather erratic and inconsistent. All chapter release dates will be "when they're done",  
> Thank you all for being so patient, and I hope you enjoy!


	3. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle eases

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Sorry I've been absent with no updates for so long. School has ruined me and my creativity. But the other day, I got a really nice comment from a reader, and it inspired me to write again. This chapter WOULD'VE came out on Friday, but like an idiot, I wrote this in the AO3 typer which doesn't save your progress like Google Docs, and I lost the entire last half. So, while the last half of this chapter isn't exactly how I wanted it, I hope you enjoy.

The battle went by in a blur. Kanji wasn't really sure what happened during the time this clone of himself transformed into a hulking mass of pink roses and muscles. There were a lot of flashing lights, screaming, shouting, and strange, humanoid shapes behind his team of saviors. He wasn't sure what to focus on, he didn't even know what the hell was happening. Bolts of lighting came down from seemingly nowhere, fireballs from thin-air exploded when making contact with an enemy, the transformed shadow spat out half-insults and half-compliments to the boys on the team as battle taunts, how was he expected to focus on just one thing? As soon as it began, it was over. Smoke cleared out of the way, revealing the rose-encrusted muscle man to be gone. Now, it was his clone again. For Kanji, this was still so surreal. Another him, half-naked and saying the things he wanted nobody to ever hear coming from his mouth. 

"Ohh~, such a passionate approach... You all must reaaally want me..."

"You all would make such lovely boyfriends." 

Shut up, Kanji thought. Please, just stop. This isn't... 

He stood up. The group of teenagers in the same school uniforms, and some weird guy in a bear costume, turned to look at him with concern. 

"Kanji-kun!" the lady with flowing, charcoal black hair let out. 

"He's still rejecting his shadow..." The man in the bear costume said, in his nasally, cartoonish voice. 

"I don't care who... Won't someone, ANYONE, please accept me?!" the clone begged, seemingly choking back tears. Its eyes sparkled, with that same, constantly sexually-aroused look on its face. A bright shade of red painted across its cheeks, and its mouth warped into a W shape, like a cat almost. Please... stop this, Kanji silently begged. Kanji looked over at the rest of his saviors. The boy with orange hair was panicking, seemingly desperately trying to reaffirm that he liked girls. The short-haired girl stood there silently, staring at the shadow, as did the girl in red. Then, the boy in grey... He just stared at Kanji, with a glare that he couldn't read. What does he want me to do...? He thought.

"ACCEPT ME FOR WHO I AM!" the clone suddenly screamed out, spreading its arms out, as if it waiting for an embrace. Everyone's attention was brought back to the copy. Something in Kanji snapped. He wasn't hearing this anymore. 

"I said, STOP IT!" He growled out. Kanji ran up the few steps to the doppelganger's stage, readying his fist. It's piercing yellow eyes hit Kanji directly through his body, shaking him to his core, as it walked towards the punkish boy. It's arms were still stretched out, as if it was expecting a hug from a friend it hadn't seen in a long time. Like any of this was going to stop him from throwing a punch, though. Kanji's arms winded back, and he released all his power into one, direct hit straight to it's nose.   
*CRASH*

The clone was knocked down, sprawled out, and convulsing in what seemed like... pleasure. Kanji was disgusted. Partly because this thing was pretending to be him doing this, but mostly at himself. Truthfully, he didn't know if this was really him or not. He was going back and forth in his head, debating. This isn't me- But, maybe it is- No, no way, this isn'- I mean, I feel like- No way in hell. Two sides of his brains threw back and forth with each other through this entire scenario. A never-ending debate, that could only be settled by the middle ground: himself. He stared at his... "shadow", he recalled, as that's what the bear called it. 

"Can't believe something like this is inside me..." Kanji said. 

"Kanji, are you...?" the headphone-toting boy weakly asked. 

"I've always known something like you was inside me... Didn't know it could get this bad though." He said. The group looked on towards him, seemingly waiting for him to go forward with... something.

"Look, it ain't a matter of guys or chicks. I'm just... scared shitless of being rejected. I'm just a total pansy who wants everybody to hate him." Kanji confessed. Was that really the truth?, he thought to himself. He didn't know. But it felt right to say. 

"You're not alone, Kanji-kun." Somebody said. Kanji turned to face his speaker. It was the grey-haired boy... That was his voice? Kanji thought. It's so... pretty. The boy walked closer to him. Fuck, Kanji's thoughts uttered in response to his body experiencing "the feeling" again. His heart was racing faster and faster as the gap between them closed. Sweat formed on his forehead, which he quickly wiped off to face the boy. 

"You can do this. I believe in you." The handsome guy said to him. It's funny, Kanji thought. A total stranger who's been stalking me just filled me with a shitload of motivation... Weird how that works. Kanji turned back around to face the shadow. 

"Get up." He commanded. 

"Anybody who looks like me should be able to take a punch, that was nothing." He reiterated. The shadow complied, and stood to its feet, quivering. 

"I know what you are. And you've been inside me for a long time." He began... Kanji didn't want this to go on long so, he tried to finish it quick. 

"You're me... and I'm you, dammit." He growled out. The shadow stood silently, staring at him. C'mon... Do somethin', Kanji silently begged it. It nodded. A blue light surrounded the clone, and the shadow was nothing more than a shapeless light. It transformed, into something much, much bigger. A tall, hulking black robot, with a painted skeleton coating it's entire body and wielding a lighting bolt for a weapon. It was semi-transparent, and had a blue tint covering it.  HOLY SHIT, I GET A MECH?! Kanji thought, getting suddenly giddy, with a large grin on his face. 

The robot then transformed once more, into a small, playing-card, that flew up into the sky and disappeared. Kanji's grin disappeared.  
"...Where's my mech?" Kanji sadly asked. He really, really wanted one. Suddenly, a name echoed inside his mind... Take-Mikazuchi. Was this what that robot thing was called? ...Not a bad name, Kanji thought. The name was followed by something else. Something much more sinister. A single phrase.  
"Don't think this is over, darling." the clone's flamboyant voice whispered into his head. Kanji's eyes widened. Once the voice’s echo disappeared from his head, something overtook his body. A feeling of nausea and exhaustion. Kanji didn’t even realize he was falling until he was already face up on the floor.    
“Nngh… Shit.” He groaned, feeling the impact from the back of his body slamming into the solid floor. Pain seared through him, and his exhaustion grew exponentially. Everything began to seem blurry. His hearing disappeared first, and his vision wasn’t far behind. Black, amorphous blobs came into his vision, looming over him. Pain seared throughout his body, but Kanji was too exhausted to even react. Then, everything went black.

In what seemed like an instant, Kanji woke up, groaning. It felt like he’d woken up as soon as he had passed out. His vision and hearing returned, starting out fuzzy, but becoming clear within a couple seconds. The first thing he saw was the ceiling that you’d see in any generic supermarket, and heard the annoying jingle of the only supermarket in Inaba: Junes. It was only the instrumental, but even without lyrics, you could still hear them. Kanji sat up, still feeling disoriented from his strange experience a couple moments ago. Coming into vision were some familiar figures. He scanned the group of people, and he immediately recognized them. The four people that had saved him from the weird sauna and his evil clone. Among the group was an elegant woman dressed in red, with flowing black hair, a spunky girl clad in a green, pin-decorated sweat jacket, an orange-haired guy with headphones, and the man with grey hair… This wasn’t the time to panic over him, so Kanji shook it off and tried to process what just happened.    
“Kanji-kun, are you alright?” The red woman said. Kanji looked at her. While he felt dizzy and exhausted, his head felt clear and like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The feeling wasn’t necessarily “complete”, but any relief at all from his stress was welcomed with open arms.    
“I feel… good. Gross and sick, but good.” He responded, trying to put on a smile.    
“Glad to hear that.” The grey haired man said, grinning. His voice hit Kanji like an arrow, but flowed through his head like the sweet sound of a harp. He didn’t know a voice could sound so sweet. He wanted to hear more of it. Kanij’s heartbeat increased, very slightly.    
“Er, not the gross and sick part but uh… You get what I mean.” He added on awkwardly.    
“Y-yeah.” Kanji reacted, looking down bashfully.

 

The headphone guy stepped toward Kanji, outstretching his hand. He took his hand in response, and lifted himself up from the ground. Upon standing, Kanji stumbled a bit, being disoriented from… whatever happened in the sauna.    
“Hey, uh… About that weird bathhouse thing place… What was that?” Kanji asked, hoping to make some sense of what had happened to him.    
“We’ll explain later.” said Grey Hair. Kanji’s face twisted in disappointment. Great, I have to wait for an explanation. Real nice, he thought to himself.    
“Right now, you need to get some rest. You must be exhausted.” Red Lady said in her calm tone of voice. Kanji was tired, like she’d said, and he felt like he was about to throw up constantly. So, maybe sleeping wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. Kanji nodded to her in response. 

  
“Alright, I’ll take him ho-” Headphone Guy started, before he was interrupted.   
“No, that’s fine, I’ll take him.” Grey Hair interjected. Kanji’s eyes widened in surprise, as he stared at him. He’s… volunteering to take me home? Kanji had to confirm with himself. This made his heart beat even faster, now practically racing at the speed of a bullet train. In addition to his nausea and exhaustion, the “feeling” he’d complained and contemplated over came over him. Kanji’s face grew hot.    
“Are you sure, partner? I can do it, it’s no trouble.” Headphone Guy tried to confirm.   
“Nope, I’ve got it under control.” Grey Hair restated.   
“...Alright, you’re the boss. Later.” Headphone Guy said, walking off into the depths of the store. Grey Hair walked towards Kanji. Kanji looked towards the pair of girls, who simply smiled at him.   
“Ready?” Grey Hair asked. Kanji turned his head towards him.   
“S-Sure!” He said, not being aware of the volume of his voice. The girls waved the pair of boys off.

 

...This was all hitting Kanji so fast. He had so many questions, and none with answers. What the hell was that sauna? What the hell was that clone of him? Who the hell were these people? Where was that sauna? And why the fuck was he getting so nervous just by walking next to this guy?! Endless questions echoed throughout his mind as the grey-haired boy and Kanji walked back to the Tatsumi house. The majority of the walk was spent in silence, except for the couple times Kanji had stumbled and almost fell onto the cold, hard pavement and Grey Hair had to save him. Kanji kept his head low, to hide his blushing face. As they walked up the shopping district, Kanji figured he should at least try and make conversation with the little time they had. He took a deep breath, and finally lifted his head up. 

“I, uh… I didn’t get to thank you guys for savin’ me.” Kanji said, quietly.   
“Oh, it was no problem. We were just glad to keep you safe.” Grey Hair responded. Kanji really liked hearing his voice… Silently, he wished to hear more.   
“...How did you guys know where I was? Or that I was gonna end up like that?” Kanji probed.    
“That is… a loooong story that I’ll save for another time. But it involves the Midnight Channel.” Grey Hair said. Kanji was confused.   
“...You mean that weird urban legend thingy?” Kanji asked. Grey Hair nodded.    
“Basically, it shows us who’s gonna end up in that ‘other world’ and when it’s time, we go there and we save them.” He explained.   
“We don’t wanna see anybody suffer there, and nobody else can do what we do.”. Kanji stared at him in awe. This guy was badass- No, scratch that. This guy is the  _ definition  _ of badass. His heart was pounding out of his chest. 

 

“Well, we’re here.” He stated. Kanji looked confused, until he looked at what was right in front of him. The store Tatsumi Textiles, and his home. Kanji’s face drooped. Oh. Home... Yaaaay, he thought. He didn’t want to leave this guy for some reason. Kanji had only met him today, and before that, he didn’t know what to think of him. ...Why do I wanna be near him so bad? Kanji asked himself.    
“I’ll see ya later.” said Grey Hair, preparing to walk away.    
“W-wait!” Kanji shouted out. He smacked his mouth close, not realizing how loud he was. His cheeks turned bright pink. 

  
“What’s up?” Grey Hair responded, turning around.    
“I-I, Uhh…” Kanji started off. He stuffed his hands into his front pocket, and pulled out his grey cellphone. He flipped it open.    
“C-could I… G-get your number?!” He requested, still not able to control his voice.    
“I wanna talk to you more…” Kanji waited for a response. He was finally answered by a small chuckle, and the sound of another phone flipping open.    
“Sure, as long as I can get yours.” Grey Hair said, flashing a toothy grin. The pink on Kanji’s face turned red.    
“H-Hell yeah!!” Kanji nearly screamed. Grey Hair made a motion with his hand pushing palm down on something, signalling Kanji to cool down. He nodded. They traded each other their phones, and made contacts for themselves. Once everything was filled out, they gave their respective phones back.    
  
“By the way, the name’s Yu Narukami. Proobably should’ve started off everything with that, huh?” Grey Hair said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. Narukami, Kanji thought.    
“That’s a really nice name-” He commented before stopping himself. You idiot, you don’t compliment other guys like that, his mind screamed at him.   
“Aaaagh, I’m sorry I’m sorry, that was weird!” Kanji panicked, his hand over his face.   
“No, no, it’s ok!” Yu said. Kanji removed his hand, slightly.    
“Really?” He asked.    
“100%. I’m actually really flattered… Your name is nice too.” Yu complimented.

 

Kanji’s heart was pounding out of his chest. A compliment from this guy feels so… so... Kanji thought. He couldn’t find a word for whatever this feeling was. It was… so nice. He wanted to feel like this more. Say it again, he silently said to himself. Kanji wanted this guy to say more stuff like that. He’d never felt like this before, with anybody’s compliments.    
“Th-thanks, Narukami…” Kanji said.    
“Don’t be so formal. Yu’s fine.” Yu corrected. 

“Ah! Sorry…” Kanji apologized, looking away. Yu put his hand on his shoulder. Kanji’s mind was screaming.   
“You have nothing to apologize for, it’s ok.” Yu said. Kanji just stared. He took his hand off of his shoulder, and gave a small smile.    
“Alright, I’ve gotta get home. Make sure to update me on how you’re feeling, alright?” Yu said, walking away.   
“Y-you’ve got it, Yu!” Kanji replied. Yu gave the OK hand signal in response. Once Yu was gone from Kanji’s sight, something hit Kanji. 

 

Kanji realized just how tired he actually was. Talking with Yu must’ve distracted him from everything he was feeling. He stumbled a bit. ...I should get some sleep, he thought to himself. He stepped into his house, taking off his shoes before entering the hallway.    
“I’m hoome.” Kanji shouted into the house. No response from his mom. She’s probably sleeping, he thought. Kanji was so focused on getting to his bed, that the moments getting there went by in a flash. Before he even knew it, he was face down on his pillow, laying chest down. He shifted to lay on his side. It didn’t take long for him to completely knock out. 

 

But, once his eyes shut, something forced them to open again. Not in the real world, he was completely fast asleep here, but somewhere else. His eyes opened, to a blurry sight of a figure latching onto him and the feeling of falling down hard. .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for being so patient, I'll try to be a little more consistent with my releases. <3


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